The paper, “Implementing Sustainable Urban Travel Policies in China,” offers recommendations to help solve contradictions arising in the rapid urbanization process in China, especially urban energy consumption and automotive exhaust emissions, while maintaining fast and steady economic growth.
May 2011: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) International Transport Forum (ITF) has released a new discussion paper, titled “Implementing Sustainable Urban Travel Policies in China,” highlighting the complexity of urban transport decision-making in the Chinese context.
The paper, authored by Haixiao Pan, offers recommendations to help solve contradictions arising in the rapid urbanization process in China, especially urban energy consumption and automotive exhaust emissions, while maintaining fast and steady economic growth. The paper contains sections on China’s urban mobility institutional and policy frameworks, the integration of urban travel and land-use policies, environmental protection, social equity and transport, accessibility issues for those with reduced mobility, public transport finance and decision making in Beijing and Shanghai, and non-motorized transport.
Its main recommendations include: strengthening the synchronization of central government with local government on sustainable transport strategy; implementing the car restrictions in cities nationwide; adopting car-less principles in urban planning and prioritizing pedestrians and bicycles; guaranteeing social equity in transport construction and service provision with a target oriented policy; and establishing public transport priority development corridors. [Publication: Implementing Sustainable Urban Travel Policies in China]